1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a compound disinfector. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a two-in-one disinfector system which may control the amount of copper ions released into water (e.g., pool water), and a method for control the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
To improve the quality of water in swimming pools, and in particular, saltwater swimming pools, disinfectors such as a copper chloride disinfector are known in the art. Known copper chloride disinfectors often comprise a main pipeline 10, a sodium hypochlorite generating device 30 and a copper ions generating device 40 (as shown in FIG. 1). Main pipeline 10 is mounted on the circulation pipeline of the swimming pool. The sodium hypochlorite generating device 30 is set in the midstream of the main pipeline 10, and includes an anode and a cathode, the electrodes using a titanium plate 301 for generating chlorine. Copper ions generating device 40 is set downstream of the main pipeline 10 and hypochlorite generating device 30, and also includes an anode and a cathode, both electrodes using copper billets 401 for generating copper ions. In operation, the anodes and cathodes of both sodium hypochlorite generating device 30 and copper ions generating device 40 are supplied with direct current, so as to carry out an electrolysis reaction. When passing through the sodium hypochlorite generating device 30, sodium chloride (NaCl) in the pool water generates halogens, such as chlorine (Cl2) or bromine by electrolysis, which quickly dissolves into water and generates hypochloric acid (HClO) and hypochlorite (ClO−), which may destroy somatic cell wall, cell membrane, and even further penetrate through the cell membrane to destroy DNA of water pollutants such as algea, thus achieving the function of sterilization. However, this process alone may leave somatic enzymes in the pool water. Accordingly, the pool water continues to flow into the copper ions generating device 40. At this time, the anode copper billet 401 loses electrons so as to become copper ions, which are uniformly released into water. The copper ions combine with sulfhydryl groups of somatic enzymes so the enzymes lose activity, and effectively form algaecide which may suppress the growth of algae, thus achieving the function of effective sterilization and disinfection of pool water.
However, in practice, the amount of copper ions released into the water when using known copper chloride disinfectors is not easily controllable, which leads to a high content of copper ions in the pool water. This high content of copper ions has negative effects. For example, the excess copper ions react with hydroxyl ions in the water, generating green copper hydroxide particles, thus causing the color of the pool water to become green. When a swimmer comes ashore from the swimming pool after swimming, the copper hydroxide particles adhere to human hair and turn the hair a green color, thus disadvantageously affecting the practicability of the swimming pool.
Known copper chloride disinfectors result in non-uniform corrosion of copper billet 401, in which the end face of the copper billet 401 closest to titanium plate 301 is more corroded than the rest of the end face. To avoid such a situation, one known method is to increase the distance between copper billet 401 and titanium plate 301 as far as possible. However, due to the size of the operational environment of known disinfectors, it is not possible that such disinfectors be indefinitely large. Moreover, a large distance between the copper billet and a titanium plate in a disinfector may result in the release of more copper ions than is desired, as more fully explained below.
When the prior art copper chloride disinfector is in operation, titanium plate 301 is continuously supplied with electric power, while copper billet 401 is intermittently supplied with electric power. The specific working process is as follows: assuming that the customer sets the time consumed for the work of disinfection is n hours (n is a positive integer) per day, then it takes n hours per day to generate chlorine by the disinfector, meanwhile with a long period of 1 hour, copper is generated intermittently in a manner of constant electric current. In each long period, the first 20 minutes is consumed for supplying the copper billet 401 with a constant electric current, and the remaining 40 minutes is for cutting off the electric power. Within each first 20 minutes, every 4 minutes is adopted as a short period. In each 4 minutes, the first 117 seconds is consumed for supplying the copper billet 401 with a constant electric current 175 mA, then after the elapse of 3 seconds for cutting off the electric power, the copper billet 401 is continued to be supplied with a constant electric current −175 mA (reversed), then another 3 seconds for cutting off the electric power, which goes round and round repeatedly until the working time of the first 20 minutes per hour is met.
With reference to FIG. 2 (herein 3 pieces of titanium plate A, B, C arranged from top to bottom are taken as an example, and the copper billets numbered D and E in the order from top to bottom), when the copper billets are cut off from the supply of electric power while the positive and negative electrodes of the titanium plate are supplied with electric power, that is, the salt water is electrolyzed while the copper billets are out of operation, the 3 pieces of titanium plates A, B, C may generate an electric current loop with respect to the copper billets D and E, with an electric potentials thereof in the order from the highest to the lowest being on the titanium plate A, the copper billet D, the copper billet E, and the titanium plate C (one embodiment is as follows: A=9.89V, D=4.77V, E=4.19V, C=0V). This hierarchy in electric potentials can have the following effects: (i) the electric potential from copper billet D to copper billet E may cause copper billet D to release copper ions; (ii) the electric potential from copper billet D to titanium plate C may cause copper billet D release copper ions; and (iii) the electric potential from copper billet E to titanium plate C may cause copper billet E release copper ions. This leads to the ultrahigh concentration of copper ions in the water pool.
While the copper billets are supplied with electric power and in the meantime the positive and negative electrodes of the titanium plates are also supplied with electric power, that is, the salt water is electrolyzed while the copper billets are simultaneously in operation, the schematic drawing is the same as FIG. 2 (the electric potential of the copper billet D is higher than that of the copper billet E). This hierarchy in electric potentials can have the following effects: (i) the electric potential from copper billet D to copper billet E may cause copper billet D release copper ions; (ii) the electric potential from copper billet D to titanium plate C may cause copper billet D release copper ions; and (iii) the electric potential from copper billet E to titanium plate C may cause copper billet E release copper ions. Release of copper ions as described in (ii) and (iii) above are the releases that lead to the ultrahigh concentration of copper ions in the water pool.
With reference to FIG. 3, when the electric potential of the copper billet D is lower than that of the copper billet E, the electric potentials thereof in the order from the highest to the lowest are on titanium plate A, copper billet E, copper billet D, and titanium plate C. As with the drawing in FIG. 2, this hierarchy in electric potentials can have the following effects: (i) the electric potential from copper billet E to copper billet D may cause copper billet E to release copper ions; (ii) the electric potential from copper billet E to titanium plate C may cause copper billet E to release copper ions; and (iii) the electric potential from copper billet D to titanium plate C may cause copper billet D to release copper ions. Release of copper ions as described in (ii) and (iii) in this paragraph are the releases that lead to the ultrahigh concentration of copper ions in the water pool.
The above mentioned prior art design presents challenges for effectively controlling the release of copper ions due to the lack of constant current, thus causing a harmful release of copper ions. Moreover, such a harmful release causes the dissolution and corrosion of the end face of the copper billet closest to the titanium plate to be worse than the dissolutions and/or corrosion of the rest of the end face of the copper billet. Accordingly, the present disclosure aims to control the content of copper ions in the disinfector.